Tropical Pack Animal Discussion

[becks474]

I am the completely opposite. The Red River Hog was one of my most wanted animals and what Frontier did with it was amazing.

The Lar Gibbon was such an obvious inclusion since we got the Siamang that I cannot understand disappointment about it (we got a second Otter, a second Penguin, a second Kangaroo, ... So why Not a second Gibbon). Its appearance is very different, its more colorful and it even makes other voices. I would go so far that I would not call it a reskin in any way.

The Fossa is great, its such a unique carnivorious species and after we got three lemurs the predator should get its way to the Game, too.

The Sloth Looks fine, has good animations. I would have preferred it as a habitat animal I can understand the difficulties (which are by far bigger than with the Koala which I am Happy that It is an Habitat animal). There was no reason to expect some Special Status in its mechanic. And I personally do not Care If it is the "right or wrong" Sloth.

I did Not really needed another Monitor but it Looks great and at least parts of the people within the Forum wanted another non-Crocodilian Reptile. So I am Happy for them.

All in all this Pack belongs more or less to the Higher places within my DLC Ranking. It is Not my number 1 and I Always prefer animal Packs over Scenery Packs as I would like to See even more animals within the Game. But I cannot really get this high disappointment. Perhaps because of Personal reasons but from a whole Forum Community Perspective Seen this Pack offered so much high demanded animals (plus the Monitor).

 

[becks474]

The gibbon and monitor make me scared that cheap crappy animals like american black bear and african leopard are gonna waste spots in future dlc packs...

Sorry for Double posting this. But as I already mentioned in my bigger Post the Gibbon is far far away from a cheap inclusion as it clearly different in size, color, behaviour (it even Walks different) and voice. That Frontier would use the brachiation frame a second time and the Gibbon rig a second time should Not really Wonder and I think this is more than okay (as I could think the rig Work was Harder than some other animals). But we have got two Otters, two kangaroos, two Penguins. Why should be a second Gibbon more cheap than the other inlcusions.

 

[Fossa]

I’m not a fan of the small otter and the wallaby, love the two penguin, those are different in many ways, I dislike gibbons in general so two of them is overkill, I put them in same cage and I didn’t see much differences to be honest.

Giant otter would have been enough for me, tree kangaroo, rock kangaroo or digging kangaroo would have been much better than the boring wallaby

Also a mountain pack without markhor = blasphemy and a bad pack, takin is so different, markhor and takin should share the pack

 

[becks474]

I’m not a fan of the small otter and the wallaby, love the two penguin, those are different in many ways, I dislike gibbons in general so two of them is overkill, I put them in same cage and I didn’t see much differences to be honest.

Giant otter would have been enough for me, tree kangaroo, rock kangaroo or digging kangaroo would have been much better than the boring wallaby

Also a mountain pack without markhor = blasphemy and a bad pack, takin is so different, markhor and takin should share the pack

But this is just a personal thing from you (which is okay and I have No Problem with it). But especially the Markhor compared to the Alpine Ibex is Just the very same Thing compared to our two different Gibbons, Kangaroos or Otters. Hope you do Not get me wrong. I also really would like to see both, the Markhor and a bit less the Takin, added to the Game. But at the end These are also Just two different goats (whereas the differences from Takin to the Ibex are higher I would say).

 

[NZFanatic]

So why Not a second Gibbon

I'm fine with a second gibbon, I'm just annoyed it came in this pack at this time. Plus, it isn't really a case of "we need more primates", it's "we need more monkeys". Specifically small monkeys, the largest represented group in captivity of which we have only one (the capuchin). "Tropical" as a theme is super broad, and it was such an obvious place to put another monkey. The squirrel monkey is incredibly common in zoos, very famous and personable, and would have taken probably a similar amount of work to the gibbon to make, so it just feels incredibly tone-deaf on Frontier's part. I would have even accepted another capuchin species!

From their perspective I can kind of see that they were going with the meta-wishlist, where the lar gibbon was near the top, but it's hard to imagine that the lar gibbon had the same sense of urgency considering we already got the siamang. The "gibbon box" was ticked. A second gibbon is fine and I'm totally on board with getting one, but not over a more badly needed monkey.

Anyway, what's done is done. I guess we can hope for, I don't know, an arboreal animal-themed pack or something to get more monkeys.

 

[becks474]

I'm fine with a second gibbon, I'm just annoyed it came in this pack at this time. Plus, it isn't really a case of "we need more primates", it's "we need more monkeys". Specifically small monkeys, the largest represented group in captivity of which we have only one (the capuchin). "Tropical" as a theme is super broad, and it was such an obvious place to put another monkey. The squirrel monkey is incredibly common in zoos, very famous and personable, and would have taken probably a similar amount of work to the gibbon to make, so it just feels incredibly tone-deaf on Frontier's part. I would have even accepted another capuchin species!

From their perspective I can kind of see that they were going with the meta-wishlist, where the lar gibbon was near the top, but it's hard to imagine that the lar gibbon had the same sense of urgency considering we already got the siamang. The "gibbon box" was ticked. A second gibbon is fine and I'm totally on board with getting one, but not over a more badly needed monkey.

Anyway, what's done is done. I guess we can hope for, I don't know, an arboreal animal-themed pack or something to get more monkeys.

I do not think that the Meta Wishlist was the most important Factor for the second Gibbon at all. As I already posted above this usage of on the one hand similar but on the other hand also different species was done several times. And I personally was up to 95 per cent Sure that we also will get the Lar Gibbon and this rather sooner than later after the Siamang was integrated. And what did Not happen still could happen. I mean we are at the moment not at the end of Support and I can see relative high chances to get either the Hamadryas Baboon (Drylands/Shrublands/Desert Pack) or Gelada (Highlands Pack) next time. And I also could Imagine that we could get a Pack specialized on more or less arboreal species as we have a huge amount of popular species fitting into such a pack (besides the Monkeys we have the Coati, Ocelot, ...). I would bet that we get at least the Black Howler Monkey this year and perhaps another one and I really Hope not to lose this Bet. Clear, I would like to see even more monkeys but we have to hope for further 2024 support which I honestly would not exclude (the most depending on games success this year).

 

[NachoB]

Gibbon should've been original gibbon in Conservation pack and a NW monkey in its place in this pack, monitor should've been a SA colorful bird and the sloth is fine as exhibit animal but let us remove those huge structures.

Also it needed more foliage but what we got is great and the building pieces are some of the best.

Those are my thoughts on this pack.

 

[yoav_r]

Guys they went to the incredible length to create a functioning brachiating gibbon rig. There was 0% chance we weren't getting a second gibbon.

I only hoped it would be as part of an animal pack.

 

[TheDuckKnight]

I don't think I ever had such a mixed reaction to a DLC than Tropical.

Firstly before I get into the meat of it, it can't be stated enough how truly beautiful all five of the animals look. Frankly, they're breathtaking - like Keanu.
Frontier clearly has sky-high standards when it comes to modeling, and these animals continue that excelling trend.

NOW WITH THAT SAID.

On one hand, I really can't complain. I got animals off my wishlist for the first time since Conservation - 2 and a half - red river hog, sloth, and gibbon (I voted for a generic gibbon and so counted the Siamang, but the Lar was my preferred species).
The Fossa is an EXCELLENT choice.
The monitor is pretty lame, but it's really nice to have a habitat, non-crocodilian reptile. But then again, why not a turtle? There's dozens of freshwater river turtles from the Amazon and SEA jungles to choose from.
And the foliage, brachiation on vines, and scenery looks great!

The issue is not so much what the pack is (in a vacuum, I'd give it a 7 or 8 out of 10). Rather, my problem is more so what it could have been.

Because...maaaaaaan, man.
MAN.
If there EVER was a pack for birds...

And it just messes with the natural progression of walkthrough exhibits: first, bats with flight. Next, butterflies with multi-species exhibition, and now, a sloth?

I understand the practicality of sloths in WEs, and completely acknowledge their needed presence in the game - sloths are by far the most iconic species hold-out amongst the mammals, and they have major, major appeal being so many people's favorite animals.

That's why I can't be too mad. PZ needed sloths, the current habitat system doesn't properly accommodate them, WE are the only solution.

The tropics are just so inherently linked to birds. It's not like we were short for a potential habitat bird either - ibises, spoonbills, ocellated turkeys, Victoria crowned pigeon, junglefowl, and that's just off the top of my head.

Putting birds aside, I have NO clue how monkeys and coatis are going to make their way in the game - I'd consider the game's lack of monkeys just a hair below as severe as the bird absence.

Ultimately, I really, really think this should have been an Animal Pack. The long-fabled Islands Pack would have been perfect for this new Southeast/Oceanic scenery and you have a pretty fab four line-up (Tazamanian devil, Kiwi, Fossa or sifaka, and tree kangaroo).
You could keep the roster as is tbh - and give the remaining slots to a South American monkey, a bird, and a coati - and it might have been one of the most unanimously beloved packs of all.

But as is, the roster is not bad, but not great. It's good. Heck, very good.
I'm happy to have these animals part of the game. Honestly, I'm extremely happy with all of them besides the monitor - but even the lizard isn't without appeal. I just hope there'll be room for the more requested choices in the future.

Look, I spent all of 2022 cursing the skies that the red river hog was passed over for the Nile Lechwe - an animal I'm not sill not 100% convinced Frontier just made up. And now, they're here!

So ultimately, don't give up, be vocal, participate in the meta-wishlists, give constructive, but fair criticism, and continue to help Frontier make the best zoo game ever!

 

[NZFanatic]

There was 0% chance we weren't getting a second gibbon.

I don't think anyone's suggesting anything to the contrary - the gripe isn't with the gibbon itself, just that there were things a lot of us wanted more and considered more important, and by "a lot of us" I mean "apparently most of us". One of the most common statements about the Tropical Pack roster I've seen made (ignoring the army of Frontier simps over on Reddit) is that the animal choices were fine in and of themselves, just not right now.

So far the fossa seems to be the only one that hasn't had some manner of complaint against it. The red river hog is being lambasted as "just another pig", the monitor is being complimented on how good it looks but described as completely unnecessary, the sloth is probably stronger on the positive end but still "the wrong species", and the gibbon, as I said, is just not what most people wanted in terms of a new primate right now.

 

[The_Riot22]

I'm with everyone else on liking most of the animals in the pack, but being bummed about SA getting shafted yet again. SA has been under-represented for several years now, yet they continue to get below the bare minimum in every new DLC. I was interested, so I went back to the past 5 DLCs to count the distribution, and I found that of the 34 animals we got, only 5 were from SA(Armadillo, Sloth, Maned Wolf, Capybara, Spectacled Caiman). All this despite that each of these DLCs could easily have included a significant focus of SA animals.
My concern is where do we go from here. Here are the most obvious potential upcoming DLC themes out there(excluding Aviary):

• Islands/Oceania
• Desert
• Mountains/Highlands

As you can discern, all of the above represent areas and biomes needed in the game, but none represent SA very well. If we got these as the next 3 DLCs, I would be surprised if we got more than 1 SA animal combined!(Spectacled Bear in a Highlands pack would be my choice)
Frontier has thrown us curveballs in the past, and Endangered Species or something like that could help, but we are getting to the point where I think we really need a SA Animal pack, possibly called an Amazonian DLC. Even with an influx of 8 SA animals, SA would still only be adequately represented.
I'm just struggling to find ways to add more SA animals. Rainforest theme is unlikely, since not only could the Tropical DLC been called a Rainforest DLC without issue, but Frontier has also referred to it as "The Tropical Rainforest" multiple times.

 

[Swiftie_Midnights_]

Tropical Pack is on my top 5 of the best dlcs that we got so far, i think overall this is the best scenery pack that we have gotten so far and I don't mean like there are the best scenery as europe or animals like in Africa Pack I mean overall with the animals lineup, the scenery, animals models & look like overall I think It's the best scenery pack that we got so far, I still didn't play with the animals so all I'm gonna say can change! but I playing with the new scenery so much and I enjoying it so freaking much! the foliage is just a chef kiss.

but when it comes to the animals:

Red River Hog - I mean seriously.. have you even looked at this animal? It's just insane how insanely it looks! everything about this animals is just amazing! the model is freaking amazing, the little hairs on the model is just WOW, the babies are too adorable for me, It's super common in zoos which I can already say that every zoo that I'm gonna do will include those fellows. overall just 10/10 animal, can't wait to see it in my eyes!

Fossa - well... yea I mean this animal just looks amazing! such an cute/weird/beautiful animal and frontier just nailed them the animations, the sound, the look, the weirdness! they are less common then the Red River Hog but they are still a lot of zoos have them they aren't so common but they are better then the Brown-Throated Sloth, right?
overall 10/10 animal super excited about them!

Lar Gibbon - people's can say It's kind of a clone, but I don't really agree I mean I'm so happy that frontier give us them just because it makes the Brachiation so much more fun to see and to build! and it also comes with so many color morphs which is always amazing! their look, their sounds, like they are such a nice animals to have in the game! and it also so common in zoos which i like it even more. even though I might will go with Spider Monkey for example, I mean It's still such a great animal! overall 9.5/10

Asian Water Monitor - at the start I didn't been so excited about, but when you looking at this animal you just understand how amazing frontier became with their animals quality, it looks like just real life Asian Water Monitor, and I'm just so excited about the future for this game! yeah this lizard pretty similar to our other lizards in the game, but the fact that this monitor is deep dive it makes it even better! and I feel It's one of the best reptiles we have in the game! and I really love their variations. overall such a cool animal to get, 9/10

Brown Throated Sloth - well... well where do we start from? haha listen.. this animal could be EASILY my fav animal in the pack or maybe even in the whole game if the species been the Two-Toed Sloth, I know at the end of the day It's a sloth but I mean I think that the Two-Toed Sloth are more cute then the Three-Toed, and let's not forget that the Two-Toed found in almost every zoo while the Three-Toed found in only one zoo if I'm correct in US. but still the People's who wanted this species I'm happy for you BUT! i'm more then hope to see the Two-Toed Sloth coming to the game in the future! but still the animal looks amazing and they are very cute, and it has such a great animations! but I'm also a bit sad that it didn't got a model for the baby!

but when it comes to the Walkthrough Exhibit I personally don't have any issue with the fact that the sloth is an exhibit animal, I feel it even better if frontier can't make the sloth work as an habitat animal. but I'm a bit disappointed about the climbing structure in the exhibit like It's very limited like I get why frontier did that but I wish we could have more freedom. I have few ideas how to make it detailed and nice looking but still. so overall 8/10

overall just an amazing dlc, I really recommend it. my overall rating for the dlc is 9.5/10! just such an amazing dlc to open the year!